We stopped in Barstow on our way to Vegas, there are lots of factory outlet shops there, but it wasn't as good as I remembered from previous trips. Although I did get a proper engagement ring finally! It`s much nicer than my $20 fake one I have been wearing since the proposal in Peru!

There was lots of traffic on the way to Vegas, so it was dark when we arrived. We were staying at the Mandalay Bay, Chrisso had booked our room there months ago so it was pretty cheap for the fancy room we stayed in. Talk about luxury, there was a TV in the bathroom so you could watch it while you were in the bath! It's a tough life, this backpacking!

We were very busy during our time in Vegas, Chrisso hardly had enough time to gamble! We wandered up and down the strip countless times, went to a few shows, visited the Freemont Experience (a street in the old downtown district with a huge overhead screen in a mall), walked around with huge frozen margaritas and ate very well. The first show we went to see was Steve Wyrick, a magician. He did some amazing things, made an aeroplane appear from nowhere, a girl appear in a huge aquarium and replaced a two poodles (one black and one white) with a dalmation. How did he do that???? But he was a bit soppy all and talked to much to make the show spectacular. The second was a Cirque du Soleil show called Zoomanity, billed as "the sensual side of cirque du soleil". They had a drag queen as a MC, and most of the content was of the adult variety, no under 18's! It was very funny, they had some amazing performers and there were lots of boobies on display so Chrisso was happy!

On Christmas day our present to each other was a helicopter ride over the Grand Canyon and the city of Las Vegas. Although it was really cold, it was a beautiful clear day and we were lucky to get in the front seat of the chopper next to the pilot. Four others were squished in the back and had to look at the back of our heads for the whole trip! It took about 40 mins to get out to the canyon and on the way we saw the Hoover Dam and Lake Mead, it`s a very pretty setting. The Canyon is pretty spectacular, even though this was my 3rd visit and second time over it in a chopper! On the way back we flew over down town Vegas and the strip, which I had never done before. You wouldn't believe how much construction is going on, they are building a whole new complex consisting of condos, casinos and shops right in the centre of the strip called City Centre which our pilot advised would generate over 12,000 jobs once complete. How can it possibly get bigger???